mr. untouchable Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Showtime Will Make 'American Gangster' TV Show with Forest Whitaker
Filed under: Drama », Deals », Newsstand », Home Entertainment »
Did you see American Gangster this weekend? Was it good? Did you like Cuba Gooding Jr.'s character? I hope so, because Showtime has just picked up a new show that, according to Variety, will "chronicle the true story of flashy Harlem heroin dealer Leroy "Nicky" Barnes." Yup, Barnes is portrayed by Gooding Jr. in the Ridley Scott film American Gangster, however this new show will have no relation to the film; instead it's based on Marc Levin's recent documentary Mr. Untouchable (which will also serve as the name of the series). Both Forest Whitaker and Levin will serve as executive producers, with David Burke as a writer and exec producer.
Though some other outlets claim Whitaker will also star as Barnes, the Variety story makes no mention of it; only that he will produce. Then again, they don't say he won't star, so chances are we could see the Oscar winner take on the role. Here's how Variety describes the series: "[It] will tell the story of how Barnes built a drug empire in the 1970s that rivaled that of the Italian Mafia. It will show how he rose to great heights, but with his success coming at the expense of his Harlem community. Skein will also detail the government's war on drugs and how it failed for years to bring Barnes down." Personally, I'm really enjoying the new Showtime shows, and I'd love to see Whitaker take on a role like this. I mean, to be able to watch this guy do his thang every week would be a real treat. No word on when the series will air, but I would imagine next year at some point.
Indie Weekend Box Office: 'Before the Devil Knows' Very Much Alive
Filed under: Documentary », Drama », Independent », ThinkFilm », Box Office », Cinematical Indie »
Advance word has been positively gushing for Sidney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead -- our own Erik Davis called it "a film that's exceptional in every way -- from its execution to its acting" while Jeffrey M. Anderson felt it deserves to be on "the list of the year's best American films" -- and New Yorkers flocked to the two Manhattan locations where it opened on Friday. It earned an average of $34,600, according to estimates compiled by Leonard Klady at Movie City News. ThinkFilm Company will expand it steadily over the next few weeks.Klady says that "the bloom is definitely off the rose for documentaries," citing the poor returns for Jimmy Carter: Man From Plains and How to Cook Your Life as evidence that "the industry has effectively killed the layer of the golden egg with too many non-fiction movies ... that cannot sustain even a niche crowd at the multiplex." Jimmy Carter pulled in just $1,320 per screen at seven locations for Sony Pictures Classics and How to Cook drew about the same ($1,480 per screen at four locations) for Roadside Attractions, according to Klady. Another doc did good business on just one screen for distrib The Weinstein Co. -- Pete Seeger: The Power of Song earned an estimated $12,500, per Box Office Mojo.
Distributor Roadside Attractions had more pleasant news for a fiction feature, however: Bella, the Audience Award winner at Toronto last year, finally opened on 165 screens and did very nicely, averaging $7,390 per locale, according to Klady's estimates. Other new limited releases struggled to find audiences: Music Within ($2,790 average on 17 screens), Mr. Untouchable ($1,950 per-screen at 26 locations), Rails & Ties ($2,160 average at five locations), Black Irish ($1,650 average on four screens) and Slipstream ($970 at six locations).
Trailer Out for 'Mr. Untouchable'
Filed under: Documentary », Independent », Trailer Trash », Cinematical Indie »
While surfing today, I came upon an interesting trailer over at The Documentary Blog. Emmy winner for Thug Life in D.C., Marc Levin, is putting together a similarly-themed documentary called Mr. Untouchable, said to come out this autumn. The film is about the rise and fall of Nicky Barnes, a black man in Harlem who became the biggest heroin distributor in the country some decades ago. If the trailer is anything to go by, this'll be a doc to check out. It's smooth, with decent music and an energy to it. There's commentary from both sides of the law, great music and archival footage, but what really makes it pop -- there's footage with Barnes himself, who sat down with Levin last summer to chat about his life.If you're not up on your decades-old heroin busts, I'll give you the scoop. Barnes was a heroin addict in his early twenties who became a huge drug dealer, taking the product away from the Italian mafia. He was the head of the "Council of Seven," a group of dealers in Harlem who created legit businesses to protect their illegal cash, and they lived under the oath: "Treat my brother as I treat myself." He got picked up for a traffic violation, and when they figured out who he was, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Barnes says that the council was backstabbing him, not paying lawyer fees and sleeping with his wife, so he became an informant. Still, he stayed in jail for 30 years, getting released in 2003.
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